Reflections on the Auroville Economy from a Mainstream Economic Perspective

by Daniel Grings

Daniel Grings has been coming to Auroville since years as a volunteer and presently offered his reflections on the current state of Auroville's economy. In the intro he says:

"Here are some of my observations on the Auroville economy. In the first section I briefly touch on a few points fundamental to understanding any economic system, while also explaining how Auroville has a unique perspective on some of them.

Then I describe how The Mother wanted Auroville to function, and explain some of the problems I see with this proposed system, followed by a brief look at the reality.

My criticism comes from a perspective that favors a market economy. Personally, I subscribe to the Austrian school of economics, which is "heterodox" rather than mainstream. However, very few of the differences between Austrian and mainstream views are directly relevant to Auroville (most are on monetary and fiscal matters or on general methodology). The one important difference is that the Austrian school is much more suspicious of centralized planning and control. Subscribing to a heterodox school also means that I am very open to challenging mainstream views. I just feel that one should attempt to understand what one is challenging..."

The article gives an overview of the various challenges faced by Auroville and some of it will be used in the June/July 2012 issue of Auroville in a wider discussion on the topic.